Biodiversity Action Plan

Blanket Bog

Blanket bog is a habitat that has developed where cool, wet climatic conditions have made the ground waterlogged making plant remains accumulate as deep peat. This is a globally restricted habitat, with 10-15% of the world resource being found in the UK.

Blanket bog includes areas of wet heath, raised bogs, bog pools, wet flushes and fens on a layer of peat 50 cm or more deep. Within the Peak District it is found in the Dark Peak and parts of the South West Peak.

In Scotland, blanket bog has been threatened through afforestation, but here, the threat comes from air pollution, over-grazing, accidental burning, the extraction of peat and the effects of past drainage. Degraded blanket bogs show stark evidence of peat erosion with bare mineral soil exposed. Restoration aims to stabilise and re-vegetate bare peat and re-wet the bogs. This is a long process, but crucial work in repairing one of the world’s best natural means of carbon storage in the battle to minimise the impacts of climate change.

The photographs show an area of badly eroded bog at Bleaklow in the Peak District, and a recovering area of blanket bog at Moorhouse on the Cumbrian border. Can we transform the stark appearance of Bleaklow to be more like Moorhouse?

Blanket Bog action plan (310KB)

Moors for the Future